Create a table using Objective C for Mac and display values in the table.

Question

Can anyone guide me as to how to create a table using Objective C for Mac OS X. The program should read values from an NSArray object and display the values in the table. I would appreciate it if anyone helped me out.

Answer 1

You need to implement a class that responds to NSTableDataSource and instantiate this, attaching it to your table as the datasource.

A quick search of NSTableDataSource (or indeed NSTableView [or for that matter Table]) in the Developer Docs should get you the details you need.

Edit:

You'll need to implement a couple of methods on your datasource as appointed to the tableview:

- (NSInteger)numberOfRowsInTableView:(NSTableView *)aTableView {
  return [myArray count];
}

- (id)tableView:(NSTableView *)aTableView objectValueForTableColumn:(NSTableColumn *)aTableColumn row:(NSInteger)rowIndex {
  return [[myArray objectAtIndex:rowIndex] objectForKey:[aTableColumn identifier]];
}

Together these two should just about do exactly what you need.

Answer 2

In answer to another question ( http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2432459/how-to-add-a-scrollable-nstableview-programmatically/2438863#2438863 ), I created the following sample application:

http://ericgorr.net/cocoadev/TableViewInCode.zip

which will demonstrate what you need to know.

Being new to all of this, I would highly recommend:

(1) Picking up a copy of "Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X (Third Edition)" by Aaron Hillegass

(2) Picking up a copy of "Cocoa Design Patterns" by Erik Buck and Donald Yacktman

I would consider these to be two must read books for anyone just starting out.